Farmers' cooperatives voice support for highway bill

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to approve H.R. 22, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

"This highway bill marks an important part in ensuring that our country’s infrastructure boosts economic growth in rural communities instead of holding it back,” Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC), said. "America’s farmers, ranchers and cooperatives need to make sure that their products get to customers in a timely and efficient manner. The bill contains numerous provisions important for agriculture including, for example, modernizing regulations to improve the movement of freight.”

The NCFC now seeks the approval in the upcoming vote on the Senate floor.

“In addition, the legislation also reverses cuts to the federal crop insurance system that were made as part of the budget agreement that Congress reached last month,” Conner said. “As we have said time and again, agriculture has always stood ready to do our part when it comes to reducing the federal budget deficit and substantive cuts to crop insurance have already been made in the past few years. Restoring the program as written by Congress in the 2014 Farm Bill is essential to ensuring that producers have access to the risk management tools they need to weather the risk inherent in production agriculture.”